CHAPTER 297: CHAPTER 297 ESCAPE .

" The president is really ruthless."

" Isn’t that a good thing? Haven’t the other societies been looking down on us for a while now?"

" Yeah, you are right. Now that the president has demonstrated his strength, no one can look down on us anymore."

" Heh!"

" Let’s take on some missions to grow stronger. We cannot be weak! We cannot destroy the image of the society!"

" When do you think the president will cause another uproar?"

" Yeah. It has been a month since the life and death battle, and he has not stepped out of the Runesmith lab or even the building in particular. The president is working so hard."

Members of the Sword Tribunal Society could be seen engaged in different conversations in various parts of the Sword Tribunal Society’s headquarters.

In one of the rooms of the society building — a runesmith lab, a young man with smooth dark hair and abyss-like eyes could be seen seated in a lotus position. Several holographic screens kept flickering before him.

He was currently studying various runes to see if he could come up with something of his own. Kailen had succeeded after several try and errors — yes, after several try and errors — even with his monstrous comprehension.

Also, he had succeeded because Anaya had explained some rune concepts and showed him some methods she had learnt through her short journey as a runesmith after several try and errors. Kailen had humbly accepted her help. He wouldn’t be proud when he had to learn something from someone who knew better than him.

This had led to making considerable progress in just a month. The progress, although not too significant, was there.

Suddenly, universe energy rippled outwards, converging into a golden dome that spread around him like a net.

" Not bad, I’ve finally managed to make a rank 0 protective rune after a month. Hey Teach, I finally—"

He turned to see how Anaya would react on seeing him do what she had taken a long time to do in a month, only to find a note at where she was previously seated.

The note read:

" Dude, you were caught in your own world trying to make a rune and I didn’t have anyone to talk to. Was bored so had to make something of my life. Couldn’t live like this.

Anyway, Lian Yu and I are currently on a date. Suck it up."

Kailen chuckled lightly on seeing the note.

" A date huh. Really knows how to make me feel like I’m a single person. It’s times like this that I miss Arrie. Speaking of Arrie, did we ever go on a date? I suppose when she’s out of seclusion, we could go on a date in the virtual universe."

Kailen mused to himself with a warm expression on his face.

" I miss her, and the others. Especially little Felecia." Kailen sighed. " Maybe I could pay Felicia and the others who are not in seclusion a visit in the virtual universe?"

" Not so fast." The time dilation artifact appeared before him, donning a smile that literally sent a chill down his spine.

" The one month period is up. It’s time to revisit the pocket world," she added, the smile on her loli face so wide that it almost tore her face apart.

’ Why does she look so enthusiastic? And why do I feel like this is not good news?’

" Can’t I postpone?" Kailen asked. He really wanted to spend time with his loved ones in the virtual universe.

" Oh, I don’t have a problem with that. However, you don’t wanna get on my bad side, right?"

Kailen could almost swear that he saw the cute knuckles of the time dilation artifact glisten with maliciousness as she spoke.

" Of course not." Inwardly gulping saliva, he disappeared from the room into the pocket world.

***

Contrary to what Kailen expected, he didn’t appear in a random region of the pocket world. He felt an extremely crushing pain bear heavily on him the moment he opened his eyes. He was currently falling from the sky and he was in extreme pain at the moment.

The speed at which he was falling from the sky was nothing to scoff at. It was not a free fall. It was the fall of someone who had been hurtled from the sky after receiving a heavy attack from someone who wanted to kill you.

He coughed a mouthful of blood, his innards churning in extreme pain.

Kailen finally crashed into several structures. The pain of crashing into the structures was unimaginable, so much so that Kailen lost consciousness.

*****

A groan.

Kailen’s eyes finally managed to snap open.

" Where am I?" he wondered, groaning weakly, barely conscious.

Several parts of his body groaned in pain. Kailen felt something was off. Was his body this weak?

The endless reserves of universe energy, his monstrous perception, his insane regeneration — why had it not kicked in? What was going on here?

A sudden feeling of fear welled up in him as he stared at his arms. They were sickly, lean and pale. He gasped for air as he struggled to his feet. What sort of weak stamina was this?

He looked at his clothes — rags. His surroundings — torn down and destroyed city walls. Some buildings, glass-made and towering, held barely. Smoke and ash rising everywhere.

Dead bodies, corpses littered here and there. Heads separated from bodies bearing expressions of fear, agony and pain. Screams of fear, pain, curses, battle.

He watched in primal fear as creatures spawned from ginormous spaceships, massacring anyone they came across. Before one locked eyes on him, he plopped to the ground, laying beneath the remains of a destroyed building in an attempt at camouflaging himself.

The gaze of the enemy — a dwarf bearing a malevolent expression, wielding an axe that glistened with profound evil — darted over the area for a few seconds before he massacred others he came across. The screams of his victims reverberating through Kailen’s ear.

" Die, die... die... die! Should have thought of that before you crossed the dwarf race!"

One of his victims, a mother, shouted back in pain after seeing her child butchered before her.

" Why are you doing this? We are not even machine lifeforms!"

" But you are in their city, that makes you an accomplice" The dwarf said, his voice devoidbof mercy ,detached and chilly "Blame your bad luck for visiting this machine race city when we, the dwarfs, decided to retaliate against them for stealing our inventions!"

The massacre continued for a while until silence prevailed.

Kailen sighed inwardly.

" I see. I’m in a simulation. This time, instead of chancing upon one, the time dilation artifact threw me into one. Plus, I inhabited the body of a weakling nobody. It seems I have been sent into some time past in the universe where the dwarfs were in some sort of war with the machine race, which was caused after the machine race stole their inventions. But what are the rules for succeeding in this simulation? And what good can this frail body I inhabited accomplish?"

[ Escape Automarion City before the Dwarves blow it up.

Note: You cannot respawn. Your life is actually on the line here.

Time limit: Who knows what the Dwarves are thinking, and when they will drown the city in fire?

Consequence for failure — Obviously death, after all, you’ll die with the city’s inhabitants. ]

" Shit."

Kailen cursed. This simulation was not like the previous one. If he died, he would die for real! His life was actually on the line here?

He would not respawn like he did each time he died in the previous simulation. If he died in this simulation, he would actually be dead for real! He was fucked!

If there was one thing Kailen knew, it was that the time dilation artifact was never one to joke with these kinds of things!

This was no game, but survival — brutal, merciless survival — and a single mistake meant death, permanent and absolute.